Indiana can't back up decent offensive performance
Indiana's primary issue on the road was a lack of offense. TheHoosiers shot 39 percent from the floor in its road games until Sunday, but at halftime, Indiana was shooting 50 percent with Al Durham (11) and De'Ron Davis (10) leading the way in scoring.
But the Hoosiers' defense was dismantled at the seams by a Michigan offense that could move the ball well. The Wolverines had nine assists by the half, and, for the most part, they were able to get the ball to any spot on the court. Zavier Simpson was the prime catalyst for the ball movement. He had six assists by halftime and on multiple occasions, drove to the basket and passed on open scores for kick-outs that were wide-open.
Indiana left the corner three open for most of the day, and in transition, the Hoosier defense was a step or two slow, oftentimes being outrun by Michigan's bigs. There were even points when Trayce Jackson-Davis was beaten down the floor, which is not a common occurrence.
Michigan was shooting 55 percent by halftime, had six second-chance points to Indiana's zero, had five turnovers to Indiana's six, had 16 rebounds to Indiana's 11 and eight points off turnovers to Indiana's zero.
Zavier Simpson hurt Indiana in fatal ways
Indiana's on-ball defense left plenty to be desired Sunday, and Michigan point guard Zavier Simpson took advantage. Rob Phinisee has not been the same defender as he was in his freshman season, but Indiana needed a guard who could guard Simpson straight up and it didn't get that.
Simpson had six assists by halftime and was key in pushing Michigan down the floor in transition. Many of his assists were passes ahead to streaking teammates that got behind the Indiana defense. On the run that eventually buries Indiana – a 12-4 run that put Michigan up 58-42 early in the second half – Simpson assisted four scores and hit a three.
The only real option Indiana had on defense, in response to Simpson, was Al Durham. Durham wasn't terrible but was never going to lock up Simpson. Because of that matchup and his offensive performance, Durham was on the floor a lot for Indiana.
Unusual sources of offense prove inconsistent
Indiana found much of its offense through the first three quarters of the game from unusual sources. Al Durham scored often early, but for a majority of the game, De'Ron Davis was the catalyst on offense. Michigan left Davis to score inside, and he did – a season-high by halftime.
Other than those two contributors, Indiana struggled to find anyone who could score. By the time the 10-minute mark passed in the second half, the four starters not named Durham had combined for 19 points. Trayce Jackson-Davis had put up two field goal attempts and Indiana had attempted five free throws.
It was pretty clear that Michigan was dictating where Indiana could score and where it couldn't, and Durham and Davis were not going to carry Indiana to victory. Because of that, when Michigan began to heat up offensively, Indiana could not keep up, even though the Hoosiers hovered around 45-50 percent shooting for most of the game.
Rebounding heavily, heavily favored Michigan
With four minutes to go and Michigan leading 82-61, the Wolverines had out-rebounded Indiana 31-19 and Indiana had brought down just eight rebounds in the second half.
Archie Miller has said repeatedly that rebounding is the single most important stat for this Indiana team, and that became evident in the second half particularly. Indiana was outmanned by Michigan on the boards. There was one instance in the first half when Michigan brought down a rebound while outnumbered in the paint four-to-one. Franz Wagner also brought down a rebound off a missed layup after the ball bounced toward Indiana defenders and away from himself.
At that same four-minute mark, Durham was the team leader in rebounds, with four.
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